This huge antenna caught our eye, even though it is not really anything to do with our research. It is located near the landing strip in Ny Ålesund, and it used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). This is a technique where two or more of these giant radio telescopes, often on different continents, are used to observe the same radio source in outer space. By comparing the signals measured by the telescopes it is possible to measure the distance and orientation between them very precisely, and this has a lot of useful applications in mapping and, for example, in measuring the rotation of the Earth. We were impressed.
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